Broken and Reconstructed Taboo
by Serina Elric
Summary: Law of Talos fanfic An eccentric, rich, ceramics expert has bought the Castle of Nations amusement park and has returned to the city of Taitles to find the two statue men that had been left behind in the fighting tournament that took place thirteen years earlier in order to restore it to it's full glory despite the warnings they've been given about the danger of one said statue man
1. Prolouge

Taitle had been abandoned. The fighting tournament had not done what was meant to be done. The city was still desolate and lifeless. The tournament had ended 13 years ago when the champion competitor, Annie, struck the runner up, Karl in the head with a pick axe barrowed from an outsider. Since then No one has entered the city. Taitle is now seen as a taboo symbol of bloodshed and foreboding and no soul has been brave enough to break that taboo. 13 is an unlucky number so it made sense that on the 13th anniversary of the tournament's end someone would break that taboo.

Dusty, durable, leather boots climbed and crunched over the rubble of what used to be Taitle. A 5'9" figure toppled over the bricks of what used to be a chapel and landed roughly at the bottom of the pile of red brick with a yelp of pain. With a grunt and a groan the figure stood up and dusted the dirt off the tan cargo pants and the brown vest and white shirt that's clung tightly to their curves and features. The wide brimmed hat they wore atop their head had toppled down the side of the red bricks with its owner and was retrieved not long after the trip down.

The tabooed traveler slapped the wide brimmed hat atop their head of frazzled purple hair that was normally stringently straightened and braided to where it extended down their back past their waist. They continued their trek not far off from the chapel and found what looked like a parking garage that was blown to bits and then those bits were slowly eroded for the past 13 years. The tabooed traveler began digging through the remains of the city for anything of value to her goal. "They have to be here somewhere. Mr. Jack told me this was where I'd find them. Then again he and Chimbley said that it was also a bad idea to bring one of them back but he never told me which one that was so I'll just have to bring them both with me."said the tabooed traveler.

They continued to dig until they came across a chip of ceramic about the size of their palm that was painted in a bright golden yellow that had dulled over the years. "How intriguing." They said with a smile in their large and curious red eyes. They continued the search and soon a plethora of ceramic pieces were gathered in front of the tabooed traveler and they were starting to form various parts of a ceramic statue. The traveler stared in awe at what was forming in front of them. "There's not question. I have to rebuild this statue. It'd be such a waste not to."

"No! Don't do it!"

The frazzled purple hair swayed at it turned around to see a torso with a head and arms that were hobbling him over to the traveler. The upper body of the mannequin was adorned in worn and filthy climbing gear and had a pasty complexion painted on his face. "Oh, you poor thing!" The tabooed traveler ran over to the disembodied mannequin and scooped him up off the rubble covered ground with a caring and healing look in their eyes. He stopped dead in his metaphorical tracks. This stranger who had traveled an unknown distance for an unknown reason into this taboo city was nothing but a fragile young girl of no more than 22 years old with an aura of trustworthiness hovering about her that gave one the feeling that she could do no wrong.

"What's your name?" She asked. The mannequin snapped out of his analyses of the traveler who he assumed was there as a rescuer. "I'm Climber. Who are you and why are you here?" said the partially destroyed mannequin. "I'm Ronni. I'm the new owner of the Castle of Nations and I'm here to retrieve some lost employees of mine."


	2. Responsibility

Everything was dark and Karl found himself wallowing in nothing. He dwelled here for 13 years thinking about his failure to win the tournament and how close he was to getting his wish…he didn't even know what it was he was going to wish for in the first place. He knew it was important but he couldn't seem to remember. He felt it had something to do with Rachel or the park but again he couldn't seem to put his finger on it. Boy, did he wish he had Arma to keep him company, but she wasn't in sight. "Well… I suppose this isn't such a bad way to spend my time, I would kill for a violin right now."

To Karl's surprise the darkness started to dissipate. "And what's this?" he said curiously. Shapes, colors and garbled sound started to come to his senses. His sight came into focus first and next he tried moving his arms and legs. He was quick to find that he was unable to do so and he saw why. In front of him laid bits and pieces of his body; an arm there, a leg here, his torso across the room. At the moment he was nothing but a ceramic head sitting on a pedestal. "This seems very familiar" he began in a humorous tone. "I wonder where I am." Karl took a quick glance around the room. It was full of ceramic material and tools for sculpting. "Interesting. Looks like I've fallen into the hands of a sculptor."

Voices from down the hall could be heard yelling at each other, one of them sounding very familiar to Karl but it seemed much deeper than he remembered. "Wot the bloody 'ell we're you thinking!? That bastard almost killed me in that tournament and you decided to bring him here!?" "Cool your head, Chimbley. I don't want to hear any more about it from you." Said an unfamiliar feminine voice that even when yelling sounded good natured. The voices got closer as they approached the room in which Karl's head was sitting. "You're making a mistake! As soon as you put him back together he'll kill us all!" said the male voice. "I won't let that happen. The Castle of Nations is mine now and I'm the one who brought him back fromTaitle so he's my responsibility."

Woman to whom the good natured voice belonged opened the door directly in front of Karl and took one step in before lingering in the door way to turn to the young man she was arguing with. Her naturally waved and frazzled hair was now strictly straightened and braided past her waist. Her red eyes were gazing with a mild glare at the young man hidden beyond the door frame along with a set of dark thick eyelashes that cast the lightest of shadows on her cheeks. She wore a red oxford shirt and left the top two buttons unbuttoned, showing off her defined collar bones along with a pair of noir slacks and matching lace-up heel boots. Around her neck and waist were strings that tied her sculpting apron caked in clay tight to her figure but not as tight as he clothes clung to her. Everything was form fitting and flattered her wonderfully. "We're done talking about this Chimbley. Why don't you go out find Climber and help him clean up around the plaza and the rest of the park." "A'roight but you just be careful and watch your back."

With that the young man left down the hall and the lovely young woman stepped into the sculpting room with a sigh as she closed the door behind her. Karl grinned widely seeing as he had found the one who had retrieved his pieces from Taitle and was reassembling him. "Hullo there." The violet haired woman faced the speaking ceramic head on the pedestal with a smile. "Hello Karl. It's good to see you awake." She responded. "You have me at a disadvantage fair lady. What is your name?" "My name is Ronni. I'm the new owner of the amusement park." Ronni sat on a stool in front of Karl with a content smile. "Oh yes I heard you say that in the hall while you were yelling at that young man from the tournament 13 years ago." "Yeah, Chimbley didn't like the fact that I was bringing you back to the park. In fact no one really thought I should have brought you back except Arma of course."

Karl smiled. "Good old Arma. Where is she anyhow?" Just then there was a tapping on a small round window to the right of the two and there sat a ceramic black crown with shining red gems encrusted into its head to act as eyes. "There she is." Ronni said smiling and opening the window to let the small crown fly in where it landed on the young woman's shoulder. As Ronni took a note from Arma's beak Karl exclaimed, "Arma, it's good to see you. It's been a while." After delivering the note to Ronni, Arma fluttered over to her old companion and took a seat on his head. "How have you been?" Karl asked of the friendly fowl atop his head and responded to the silence saying, "I know I shouldn't have let my guard down, but hey it looks like I'll be back on my feet soon."

Arma fluttered her wings a bit causing Karl's head to start teetering back and forth on the pedestal. "Uh oh!" Karl exclaimed to alert Ronni. Just as Karl fell from his spot on the pedestal Arma hovered above and Ronni dove to catch him. There she sat on the cold dusty sculpting room floor holding Karl's head tight to her chest as she sighed with relief. "That was close." Ronni spoke to herself. "Thummmf yuuf." At first Ronni looked around to see where the muffled sound had come from but then looked down and saw that she had Karl's face was buried in her chest. A quick blush came and went across her face and she quickly placed him back on the pedestal. "So, sorry about that." She said with an embarrassed smile. "That's okay. You saved me again there." "Haha, I seem to be saving you a lot lately." "Yes, about that. Everyone is telling you that you shouldn't trust me. Why is it that you oppose them?"

Karl posed a good question and he fully expected to have her pause to think of an answer. This is not what happened. Ronni answered quite quickly, "That because I couldn't leave you behind." Karl was somewhat taken aback by the answer but continued. "Why's that?" he asked as Ronni began writing a note in response to the one Arma had delivered. "Because you're are part of this park whether you like it or not and that means I have to take care of you." She said with a smile. "Come here, Arma." Ronni said holding out her arm for the ceramic crow to sit on. Karl was taken aback once again by the sincerity of her answer. "Here. Take this to Mr. Jack for me."

Arma took the folded note in her beak and flew out the circular window in the direction of the Haunted Square to the south of the amusement park. Ronni closed the door and turns back to Karl with a smile. "Now then, how about we finish getting you back together."


	3. Master Karl

Over the next week or so, Ronni spent much of her time in the sculpting room with Karl. This left Karl with plenty of time to ask questions. He was curious about this human. He didn't see why her mere responsibility over him would be reason enough for her to risk rebuilding him. Never the less she did so and with a contented smile on her face; almost like she was having fun. "So is this a hobby of yours?" Karl asked about 3 days into the project while she was working on reconstructing a torso for him. Ronni was, as always, quick to respond.

"I guess you could say that. I have been learning ceramics and sculpting since I was little so I'm kind of an expert now."

"Now why would you waste such a splendid gift on this old amusement park?"

"Because this place is full of unique and amazing sculpted works and I hated seeing so many of them in such bad condition so I bought the whole theme park."

Karl looked surprised. He knew that even with the park in its condition it would cost a fortune to buy such a large property and get it back up and running. "Where did you come by the money for such a venture?" Ronni answered without hesitation and still smiling. "I inherited it from my parents after they were killed in a robbery attempt." Karl almost laughed. He remembered when he had told Chimbley something similar to answer the question as to why he killed so senselessly. "You seem rather happy about that." Karl answered. Ronni turned back to her work with that same plastered smile. "Not really. I guess you could say I'm a bit eccentric." "Isn't that just another word for 'slightly insane?'" Karl said smirking from his spot on the pedestal. Ronni simply grinned.

That conversation happened about a week ago. Ronni had come along far in her work and Karl now had a torso and arms. He sat in the ceramics room with Arma resting on his shoulder. He began speaking with her though no words could be heard from the small ceramic crow. "I'm not going soft, Arma." There was a pause and Karl responded. "I'm going to kill her and the other humans here now once I lose interest in her." Another pause. "I find her train of thought interesting. That's all." This seemingly one sided talk extended on into early morning. Karl was midway through his response to Arma's silence when he saw a silhouette in the window of the ceramics room that led into the hall. Karl had a moment of relapse. The silhouette, with definite waves in it hair looked just like Rachel's.

The disturbance was apparent in his face and Arma hovered down from his shoulder and pecked panicked at his hand. It was a fruitless effort. Nothing could draw Karl out of his disturbed state. He was certain the last time he would see Rachel was in Taitle and even then it wasn't really Rachel. Something broke Karl away from his reverie and it was the contented voice of Ronni. "Morning, Karl." She spoke with a yawn as she pulled her frazzled and wavy hair back into a pony tail, no longer sharing Rachel's silhouette. Karl's disturbance subsided and he replied. "And a good morning to you, Ronni. Your hair looks rather odd today." "Yeah this is how it normally is. I have to get up early every morning to straighten and braid it, but I really wanted to finish up you bottom half so I just skipped it."

Karl was once again intrigued by her behavior as Ronni wasted no time in tying on her apron and setting down to work. It seemed as though she was creating a completely new body for Karl while still using bits and pieces of his old one to construct it. He had noticed this before while Ronni was attaching his head to his new torso. His clothes were different. She had him dressed in a formal white shirt that was buttoned almost all the way up but left enough room for Ronni to tie a red and black Victorian style neck tie into it; he was then adorned with a formal silver grey vest to go over the shirt. This gave him the impression that he wasn't going to return to Pirate Island. "So what's the occasion for all this fancy clothes? They don't really fit the part of the park I used to be in." Ronni answered, "That's because you won't be in p-i-r-a-t-e Island anymore. I know you hate being called a p-i-r-a-t-e and besides your personality fits the Haunted Square much better." "Who told you I didn't like being called that?" Karl asked. "Mr. Jack and Climber. They also told me that you play the violin."

Karl perked up at this, smiling wider than usual. He had almost forgotten about his violin. "Oh yeah. You wouldn't happen to have my violin would you?" Karl asked eager to play his sonata in G minor again. "I did find it but unfortunately the years haven't been too kind to it so I'm having it fixed." "Sounds great; I look forward to getting my violin back." Ronni smiled with a nod of agreement. "I'd like to hear you play sometime." She turned to Karl and placed his completed lower half in front of him. "Presto!" Karl looked over her works with a smile. His lower half was adorned with formal black slacks and expensive looking black boots. "Amazing!" Karl exclaimed. "Now we just have to attach it, repaint you and you'll be all done!" Ronni said excitedly wanting to see him as a finished work. "I have to ask where in the Haunted Square will I be?" "I'm glad you asked. You will be placed in the mansion at the end of the square and will be known as Master Karl, owner of the Forbidding Mansion. How does that sound?" Ronni said happy with her arrangements. Karl grinned widely. "I like it."


	4. So Close to Humanity

Ronni worked meticulously at scoring the edges of the broken area around the bottom and top halves of Karl. His top half was laid down on a table where he would wait to be reattached to his hips and legs. After Ronni finished scoring the legs she pushed her swivel chair over to the table Karl was lying on and started scoring the area around his waist where she would attach his legs. Karl laughed, "That tickles!" Of course he was joking, as a statue he wasn't ticklish. Ronni giggled knowing he was just fooling around. "Stop squirming or would you rather just hobble around as a torso forever?" Karl stopped with his little joke and lied there completely still. Ronni finished with the scoring and lifted Karl's legs on the table and delicately attached them to his waist. She was pleased with her success. "Ta-dah!"

Karl went to sit up but found himself being pushed gently back down by Ronni's ashen, clay coated hands. She tapped a polished black nail on his nose and smiled. "Don't move yet. You'll break in half again if you don't dry first." Karl smiled as well and did something he hadn't done for anyone in a long long time. "Thank you for keeping me together." His savior smiled and clapped her hands together saying, "It was my pleasure." "So how long will I have to wait exactly before I can move around?" He asked as Ronni began washing the slip and clay dust off her hands. "About 2 days and even then you have to be careful and not jump around too much. You'll get to do that eventually though. For now," Ronni began before turning away from Karl. "Hm?" He hummed in curiosity. She turned back to him holding a painter's pallet with many colors squirted on, a hand full of paint brushes, and an enthusiastic smile. "It's time to paint."

It was a rather odd feeling, being painted. Karl watched Ronni's hand intently as she painted every inch of him from his shoes to his hair. He was glad that he was being torn away from his p-i-r-a-t-e- garb and was quickly getting used to his formal red, grey, and black adornments. The paint that tinted his 'skin' had faded over the years and Ronni was bringing color back to it. For a moment while Ronni was painting his nose Karl could have sworn that for only a split second it felt ticklish. He laughed silently to himself. "If only that were true." He thought to himself. That was part of the wish he would have asked for had he won the tournament and the wish machine was real. He wanted to be human maybe then he would understand why Rachel had…

"All done."

Ronni had put the final touches of color into his eyes. Karl was once again drawn away from thoughts of Rachel by the sound of Ronni's voice. "Wanna see how you look with new fresh paint?" "Of course." Karl said with a smile, glad to be relieved of troubling thoughts. Ronni brought over a mirror and tilted it so that he could see the entire finished work that she had done one his face. There was a clearly noticeable improvement. It wasn't just because Karl had been beaten and faded over the years and he was looking brand new after Ronni fixed him up. He looked better than he ever had before and not just because of the clothes. Karl was looking back into his own eyes thinking they were someone else's. His previous appearance had been crude and cartoon-like but now with the work Ronni had done they looked almost completely human. Karl didn't know what to think. He couldn't decide whether to be in awe or to be enraged that Ronni would mock him this way. "Is something wrong?" Ronni said. Her voice sounded concerned but she didn't stop smiling.

He looked to her is painted yet human-like eyes were full of mixed emotion. This girl…she had rebuilt him from the ground up and given him a new place and title in the park that he had accepted gratefully and now she was making him more human. There was a small pause. Karl had to make a decision quick. He turned his head and smiled. "Nothing's wrong. I like it." Karl, despite his claims to Arma, was forming a soft spot for this human. He didn't understand why. She wasn't special. She was just an oddball girl with some minor psychological/emotional problems, had masterful skills in sculpture, and was brave enough to come to Taitle just to retrieve him. The list grew to a decent length in his head when Karl noticed Ronni pushing what looked like giant hair dryers on wheels over to the table he was on.

"What are those?" He asked out of natural curiosity. "They're heaters. If I leave them on overnight it will half your drying time. You'll be able to move around by tomorrow night." Ronni smiled pleasantly. Karl smiled too. "Great. I look forward to moving to the Forbidding Mansion." "And I look forward to seeing you there." Ronni grinned widely her hint of insanity that Karl had grown fond of showing though. Ronni removed her apron, washed her hands and turned to leave but then did a spin back around to face Karl saying, "Oh and when you get to the mansion tomorrow I should have your violin fixed. Maybe you can play a number or two for us." "Maybe." Karl answered. With that Ronni left and Karl sat under the heaters for the night; strangely getting the feeling of warmth.


	5. Precaution from the Past

Karl sat under the heaters all night and could feel a sturdiness coming to his body. He began experimenting. First, he was just moving fingers then later moved on to being able to bend his knees and elbows. By early morning he could move his body but only slowly due to cautiousness and the lingering feeling that he wasn't quite finished drying yet. He lied still for a few more hours that eventually led into the afternoon. Ronni hadn't shown herself all day and Karl hated to admit it but he was rather bored without her.

Though Karl wasn't used to it he could clearly tell that the warmth from the heaters was becoming too much for him and even made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Karl didn't get it. Why did he start feeling these things after all this time? Karl decided to find Ronni. Maybe she could answer his questions. He tested out his legs. They stretched and bent easily as did his arms. Karl carefully sat up on the table before lowering himself down to the sculpting room floor. He heard the crunching between the floor and his new shoes caused by the dust and bits of dried clay. Karl still wasn't used to his newly dried legs and trebled and wobbled slightly, using the table he had just left for support. Upon gaining his balance, Karl made his way out of the sculpting room and down the hall that led directly out into the main plaza of the park. Karl was once again taken by surprise when he saw the state of the park. It had gone from its dreary faded colors of the old days to looking, like Karl, fresh and new.

Even Climber had been restored to his old post in the park along with some new enhancements. The hips and legs that climber hand lost over the years had been rebuilt by none other than Ronni before she started putting Karl's head back together after returning from Taitle. His worn and tattered climbing gear had been replaced with brand new gear that had a blue trimming to it to add some color to his black and white appearance from before. Also, the wall he used to scale in the plaza was now an attraction where kids could suit up in climbing gear and climb the wall with him.

He was climbing faster than he had in years with the new legs Ronni had given him and was having a great time breaking them in on said wall. Unlike Karl, Ronni hadn't seen the need to paint Climber any differently than he already was painted so she simply redefined his paint job and was satisfied with that. Climber reached the top of the wall and sat there to look out over the plaza and as far as his newly painted eyes could see. It was then that the newly constructed figure of Karl caught his attention as he walked across the plaza in the direction of the Haunted Square. Climber's eye narrowed in suspicion and caution on the countenance of the 'man' he knew was a danger to those who got close to him. Climber worried for Ronni. Since the moment he met her in Taitle, all the way back to Castle of Nations , and even up to this morning when she herself was walking through the plaza to the Haunted Square he had been warning her to keen a safe distance from Karl because of how dangerous he was.

Everybody in the park has advised her against bringing him back. Chimbley, who had come back to the park with Mr. Jack when Climber didn't return from his fight with Karl and took up the position of park manager when Ronni bought it; told her about how vicious, brutal, and merciless he had been in the tournament. Mr. Jack gave her a little more history about Karl and how his vicious behavior had begun back in the days when the Castle of Nations was at its peak. He told her all about what happened with Karl and his attachment to a human girl who frequented the park named Rachel. He explained there was a misunderstanding between the two of them because Karl saw Rachel with another man. Karl felt betrayed, which was an unfamiliar emotion he didn't know how to deal with in any way other than killing her. It only took moments for him to regret it but while he was kneeling in front of the bloody mess he had made the man that had been with Rachel began fighting with Karl. In the scuffle Karl lost an arm and the man pulled a gun on him and shot him in his ceramic eye leaving a gaping hole in his face. The man didn't escape with his life and Karl hasn't had a stable state of mind since.

"I'll have to keep an eye on him… I won't let him take another innocent life."

Karl continued towards the Haunted Square upon entering the iron gates that surrounded that section of the park Arma flew down from seemingly nowhere and landed on his shoulder. "Hullo there, Arma. How do I look?" Karl asked modeling his new Victorian style suit. Arma fluttered in silence. "Why thank you. Have you seen Ronni?" Arma's head turned silently to the mansion at the edge of the square. "Well then shall we take a look at our new home?" Arma flapped her wings silently and Karl continued on towards the mansion. The mansion was closed presently and the iron gate that would lead one onto the dirt path leading to the mansion was locked. Karl made a move to jump the fence but was stopped by a tapping on his shoulder. Arma fluttered there holding a key with a note tied to it in her beak. Karl took it with curiosity. "What's this little surprise?"

Karl unfolded the note and read:

Master Karl,

The Forbidding Mansion is yours now. Do with it as you wish…but don't destroy it, or burn anything…basically try to keep it in tact. Hahaha. It's a no old beauty and my favorite building in the park. I'm sure you'll love it too.

~Ronni

P.S. If you there any technical problems just call Gordan and Douglas

"Time to explore." Karl unlocked the gate and Arma followed over head as he walked the dirt path towards the mansion. There were false grave stones decorating the property around the mansion. The fake ones where hollow and made of clay but there were some that were real and made of granite. Two gravestones that were side by side were labeled with the name of Ronni's parents. Another that Karl did his best to avoid was made…for Rachel.

Karl stormed into the mansion, hating having a reminder right outside his door which he now wanted to lock. It was then that he heard the muffled sound of a voice coming from a room down the hall. The door to the ballroom was cracked open slightly and light was trickling through it. Karl approached the room and the voice that seemed to be talking to nothing. "Come on, Douglas. We promised we'd be done with it before he got here." There was a silence and the sound of hallow wood having a light collision. Karl knew this sound well. It was the sound of a violin being set down. Karl's pace quickened; he was rushing towards the ballroom all the while thinking: "Who is touching my violin!?"

He burst into the ballroom, scanned the room and quickly found amongst all the mechanical dancers a pair of brothers sitting at a small table with an old, destringed, and unvarnished violin. The two brothers both had simple green eyes. One of them hand lank black hair with no style and the other had spiked black hair that was showing through his blue hair dye. They both looked to him with their eyes wide. "See I told you we wouldn't get it done in time if we got here at noon."said the brother with the blue-black hair. His younger brother stayed silent but rolled his eyes while signing "I'm not the one who wanted to stop by the gift shop." Karl kept smiling as he always did but had gravity in his voice. "I don't care who you are but I want to know what you've done to my violin."


	6. Gordon and Douglas

"That violin is very important to me." Karl said, head tilted. The brothers panicked when they sensed the blood lust in Karl's eyes and before he could charge Douglas grabbed Gordon's sleeve and dragged him at a sprint towards the exit. To their despair Karl stopped them short and slammed the door shut before they were even 10 feet in front of it. "I'm afraid I can't let you go just yet. You see, you are strangers in my new home and on top of that it seems you've nearly destroyed my violin. I can't let you leave without giving you what you deserve first." Karl said through a vicious smile.

Neither of the brothers liked the way that sounded. Karl charged forward at them with a fist raised and reacting quickly the two of them separated and ran for dear life, weaving between the pairs of well-dressed dancing mannequins. Karl's fist made a heavy impact of the hard mechanical pair of dancers and when he expected the figures to break instead his hand, which was still fragile, broke off at the wrist. He observed this and stopped a moment to stare at the hollowness of his body. He frowned inside then spoke. "What a shame. After all that hard work it looks like Ronni will have to rebuild my hand again. I'll have to apologize for that."

By this point the brothers were at one of the windows and the younger one was working at the hinges with a screw driver. "Come on, Douglas! Faster!" Douglas continued to work frantically and silently as Gordon egged him on. He looked up for only a moment but was able to see Karl's reflection in the glass as he ran at him and his brother. He acted fast and pushed Gordon to the side and out of Karl's way. Karl stopped and turned between them to face Douglas. Before the younger brother could turn and run Karl spun on his one foot and round house kicked Douglas in the stomach. Douglas had the air knocked out of him with that kick and was sent flying into a pair on dancing mannequins which were damaged slightly on impact.

Karl took his time closing the gap between him and the beaten 16 year old. He had the full intent of maiming the small boy. For some reason Karl didn't have the urge to kill the boy but he sure as hell would come close. Gordon came rushing over to pull his brother out of the mechanical mess when Karl took hold of his collar and flung him over his head and onto a table which also broke on impact. Gordon tried to lift himself from the floor with a groan. It was clear to Karl that the 17 year old was the stronger of the two and should be taken care of first. As Gordon managed to get to his knees Karl grabbed him by his semi blue hair and got right in his face. "Now then I'd like to know what you're willing to do to save you and your brother's life."

"Karl! What are you doing!?"

Karl turned with a bright smile towards the ballroom door where Ronni was standing hands on her hips looking irritated but not angry. "Ronni~, how nice to see you." Karl said with a smile. She weaved through the rows of mannequins and her irritation subsided for 3 seconds as she pasted a still breathless Douglas with a smile and a wave then turned back to Karl looking irritated again. "I said what are you doing?" "Oh well I came here to explore my new house when I found these trespassers who were messing with my violin." Karl said gesturing between the two brothers.

Her brows rose in a way that said 'Are you kidding me?!' "Kaaaaaaarl! Didn't I tell you that I was having you're violin fixed?!" "That you did." Karl responded with a grin at remembering her kind gesture. "Well these are the guys who are fixing it for me!" Karl paused a moment and it was deathly silent in the mansion until Karl let go of Gordon's hair without even looking back at him. "Opps." Ronni pinched the bridge of her nose and Gordon rose to his feet. "It's about time you got here. This guy was gonna kill us." "No, not kill you. Just maim you a bit." The fact that Karl said this with a smile only scared Gordon more but he put that aside to get his brother out of the pile of mannequin dancer remains. "You okay bro?" he asked. Douglas twisted his neck a bit to relieve it of soreness then signed "Yeah, just a few bruises."

Karl's head tilted in curiosity. "Why doesn't he talk?" "He can't. Douglas was born mute." Douglas waved casually, he was used to being asked that and by this point didn't mind. "Gordon and Douglas are friends of mine from college." Ronni answered. "But they're so much younger than you." Karl observed Ronni was in her 20's and the brothers were in their teens. "These guys skipped a ton of grades. They're geniuses. Douglas majors in engineering, science, and mathematics. Meanwhile, Gordon majors in the arts, architecture, finances and his second language is sign." Ronni said giving Karl the basic info on the brothers. Karl grinned at the two of them. "How interesting. I'm Master Karl, the owner of the Forbidding Mansion." He said this with a bow, the first polite thing he'd ever done. "Well, Master Karl thanks for not killing me and my brother. You already know our names but you don't know that we are also the new park technicians." Gordon said in reply. "I didn't know that." Karl said replying politely which himself and Ronni both noticed. "Well boys, it was nice seeing you again but by the looks of the ballroom you have some work to do." The brothers knew that she was right and Douglas replied in sign "We're on it, boss." "Thanks guys. We'll see you later." Ronni said as she hooked her arm around Karl's unbroken one and turned him around to walk him out.

Karl and Ronni were met at the gate by Arma, who was perched on top before she fluttered down to land on Karl's shoulder. He talked silently with her about how she hadn't warned him ahead of time about the brothers until they were back in the sculpting room. Ronni had him sitting down and was examining his broken hand and grabbed his elbow to wave it in front of his face. "How? How I ask you!?" Ronni exclaimed with a smile and a laugh in her voice. "I sort of punched a pair of mannequins." Karl responded with the same enthusiasm. "Well, you're lucky that you stepped out from under the heaters too soon cause that means you're soft enough to reattach another hand." "Well then I guess I'll be here with you a while longer." Karl said as Ronni began working with the clay and already finishing the fingers. She smiled. "You'll be enjoying my company longer than you think."


	7. Starting a New, Real Life

It only took Ronni a day to have Karl's hand repaired. It was stronger than before and once it was completed she had a surprise for him. Douglas and Gordon kept good on their word and by the end of the week Karl's violin was in perfect shape as though it had just been crafted. Karl hadn't been happier to hold his violin. His smile grew wider and more genuine by the day and though he didn't take notice Ronni certainly did.

"Would you play me a song, Master Karl?" Ronni requested with a giggle and a curtsy of her clay coated apron. "I don't see why not." Karl grinned. He placed the freshly varnished violin between his shoulder and his chin and raised the bow to the strings. He began to play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata while Ronni hummed along with her eyes closed, a somewhat insane smile on her visage. Karl continued playing and watched her with a deep interest. He wanted to know what was going through her head when she had that look that intrigued him so. It was a familiar feeling…A feeling he had when he used to watch Rachel but it was different this time.

Rachel had been a calm gentle figure in Karl's eyes and seemed unable to defend herself. Ronni on the other hand seemed volatile and enigmatic. Something about her also told Karl that if she were to snap Ronni would show some secret talent or ability. If the situation came about where she was in danger Ronni would be perfectly capable of keeping herself safe from anything that would harm her…She reminded Karl of himself.

"Oh, Karl? Are you still there or did you get absorbed in your performance?" Ronni asked. Karl's mind had been wandering longer than he thought and he had automatically been continuing the Moonlight Sonata subconsciously. This was very out of character for him. He typically focused on one goal at a time. During the tournament he was focused only on killing everyone and getting his hands on the wish he wanted so desperately. Now he wasn't sure what his goal was. It was wandering somewhere between continuing with his blood thirsty hatred towards humans and killing off the untrustworthy creatures or finding out what his sudden interest that was spurred by Ronni to understand them.

"Sorry about that. It's just good to have my trusty violin back." Karl smiled.

"That's good to hear." Ronni smiled back with that same hint of insanity.

Karl was met by Arma after leaving the sculpting room with Ronni and conversed with her silently. Ronni walked with him all the way to the gate of the mansion before saying, "I'll come back and get you tomorrow. We have some work to do." Karl raised his painted eyebrow.

"Work?"

"You'll see. Good night." Ronni spoke in a sing song voice before head back to her own little home near the center of the amusement park. Karl watched after her before walking up the path to the mansion passing Rachel's grave again, almost forgetting to take note of it this time.

Karl, of course, didn't sleep at all and simply played his violin while letting his mind wander through the night. It felt to him that Ronni had just left him at the gate, already it was dawn and Ronni was standing at the front door. He felt strangely happy to see her. She was dressed in a knee length black and white dress, covered in lace and frills. Her hair was straight and braided as usual but it was topped off with a gothic Victorian style hat. Altogether she looked rather haunting and admittedly very cute.

"Morning Karl. Did you enjoy your first night in the mansion?"

"I did. May I say you look very different this morning. I like it." He grinned widely and Ronni matched his expression perfectly.

"I'm glad you think so. I just came to tell you that the park is opening today."

"Really? Well that's great news."

"Isn't it? After all our hard work in just 2 hours the park will be running again for the first time in years." Ronni was clearly ecstatic. She had been working hard for a long while so Karl found it only reasonable for her to be acting this way.

"I wanted to just give you some advice."

"I'm all ears, my lady."

"Just be nice to the guests. You don't even have to talk to them or go near them if you don't want to. Give them a scare if you want but don't go too far okay? They are just here to enjoy themselves. Not to fight you. Could you to this for me please?" Ronni had taken hold of Karl's hands and was smiling up at him. Something inside him wanted to oppose her request but he was overwhelmed.

"If that's what you need me to do I will do my best." Ronni giggled and hopped up a bit hugging Karl around the neck. Karl yelped slightly in surprise but kept his balance.

"Oh thank you, Karl. You won't regret it you'll see."

"Right." Karl was baffled. No one had shown him this sign of affection before. Ever. What was more odd was that he could actually feel her against him. Ronni let him go and stepped back with a smile before running backwards down the oath to the gate while calling back to him.

"I'll be back to see you later okay!?" Karl smiled and called back to her.

"That sounds delightful."


End file.
